


Another Boring Meeting

by VeraBAdler



Series: October 2020 challenges [4]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Office, Fluff, M/M, Meet-Cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-04
Updated: 2020-10-04
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:28:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 839
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26819578
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VeraBAdler/pseuds/VeraBAdler
Summary: Dean Smith gets to know Cas Novak while they sit through an interminable meeting at Sandover.
Relationships: Castiel/Dean Smith (Supernatural)
Series: October 2020 challenges [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1947589
Comments: 6
Kudos: 39
Collections: Destiel Promptober 2020





	Another Boring Meeting

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt 1: Doodles/Doodling  
> Prompt 2: Branded

"...And if you'll turn your attention to slide 46-C, while keeping table 337 open in the packet in front of you, it's clear to me as it should be to all of you that the new logo, vis-a-vis branded vs non-branded ancillary merchandising, is capable of a synergistic..."

Dean Smith shifts in his seat. After twelve years at Sandover, four of those in the c-suite, he's perfected his Zen for dull meetings, but Adler's presentations could break the patience of a... Well, whatever it is that the top Zen guy's title would be. They're skidding into hour three of a PowerPoint slideshow that could have been boiled down to two sentences in an email that only needed to go to two people. But Zachariah loves his face time, and he loves it best when his face is in front of as many people as the meeting room can hold, for as much time as possible, so here they sit.

Adler's assistants brought in fresh carafes of coffee and huge platters of danishes forty-five minutes ago, but nobody dares stand up while Zach is still talking. Dean's already got the route mapped out for the extra-long run he'll take tomorrow to burn off the carbs from the apple danish he'll be treating himself to, if Adler ever shuts up. Casting about for something else to focus on, his eyes fall to a legal pad on the table next to him.

The pad belongs to Cas Novak, one of the newest hires to the team. Novak's sharp, a real asset to the company, and they were lucky to steal him away from his old firm. Dean's been meaning to stop by his office to say hi, maybe get to know him as more than just another name on the corporate website, but everyone's schedules have been locked up tight for weeks, thanks to the third-quarter restructure. That they're seated side-by-side now in this interminable meeting is pure happenstance, but Dean welcomes it, because Cas's notepad is full of little drawings. 

There isn't a word on the page; Cas is clearly making no effort to pay attention to Adler's talk. (And why would he? As usual, Zachariah will email the entire PowerPoint file out to everyone in the company as soon as the meeting disperses, even though the information is pertinent to fewer than a half-dozen people at the firm.) Instead of notes, there's a galaxy of stars and swirls nestled in one corner, a menagerie of cartoon animals arrayed along the bottom, a conglomerate of fractal geometric shapes intertwining with the lines of the paper throughout.

Dean is charmed. He can't resist.

He doesn't bother checking to see if anyone's watching; everyone at this table has long since zoned out into their personal la-la lands. Zachariah is much too far up his own bloviating ass to notice the actions of his audience. Dean reaches over, draws an arrow pointing at a tiny monkey, mouth wiiiide open in a barbaric yawp, and labels it "Adler? :)" Cas snorts quietly and draws a little thumbs-up in confirmation. Encouraged, Dean chooses a blank space in the center of the pad and marks out a tic-tac-toe board. He even lets Cas go first.

Five consecutive games end in a draw, and Cas flips to a clean sheet on the notepad. By unspoken agreement, they fall easily into collaboration, taking turns adding to a whimsical farm scene that soon fills the page. Cas draws a cow, and Dean draws a ramshackle barn behind it. Cas adds a cockeyed patch of corn next to the barn, and Dean fills the sky above it with puffy clouds and a smiling sun. Cas sprouts a little flower in front of the cow, and Dean doodles a tiny bumblebee above it, dashed line indicating the loopy path it took to get there. Cas draws little hearts all around the bee, then adds a speech bubble above its mouth, which he fills with the words "Bees are awesome!!!!!" 

From here, they segue into the back and forth of a text conversation. (Cas has to flip to a clean page two more times before the meeting ends.) They start out talking about Cas's lifelong love of bees and other pollinators, and move smoothly through various other get-to-know-you details of their personal lives. Knowing little jokes about working at Sandover are peppered throughout. Somewhere around the middle of page three, Dean asks Cas out on a burger date, and Cas smiles softly at him before writing "I would love to <3 :)"

Adler eventually runs out of things to say, but only after the meeting has gone on long enough to steamroll right over everyone's lunch hour. Dean and Cas take the rest of the day off, and their burger date turns into a walk in the park, then drinks, dinner, and a movie. By the time Cas is inviting Dean in for "coffee" that night, Dean can safely say he has never been more pleased with the outcome of one of Adler's bullshit meetings.

**Author's Note:**

> Rebloggable link for this fic on tumblr is [here](https://blessyourhondahurley.tumblr.com/post/631070949973884928/another-boring-meeting).


End file.
